Overview
- Multiple Argentine outlets this week, which ran reports between Tuesday and Thursday, quoted chefs saying that how you mash potatoes matters more than adding large amounts of butter.
- Chefs recommend cooking potatoes until very tender, draining well, and passing them through a ricer or mashing slowly while still hot to avoid overworking the starch.
- Overworking or using blenders and food processors releases excess starch and can make the purée heavy, gummy or sticky, so most professionals advise against those tools.
- Most chefs favor medium- to high-starch (floury) potato varieties or a blend of types for a lighter, airier purée, though a single chef, Pablo Fernández, offered a limited alternative of boiling with skins and using a powerful blender.
- The practical payoff for home cooks is clearer texture with less fat: working potatoes hot and adding butter in small pieces with hot milk added gradually lets the tubers absorb liquids and reduces the need for extra butter.